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Nov. 9, 1926. 1,606,022

E. F. GALLAUDET TENNIS rmqxs'r AND manna Filed Oct. 24, 1925 ENTOR ATTORNEY Mug Patented Nov. 9, 1926 UNITED STATES PATENT QFFIQE.

TENNIS BASKET AND THE LIKE.

Application filed. October 24, 1925. Serial No. 64,510.

1 frame of wood is that the head is very liable to warp and thereby to seriously impair the playing qualities of the racket. But no satisfactory substitute therefor has as yet been found. The various metallic frames and frames of'combined wood and metal .which have heretofore been proposed have all developed defects of one kind or another which have prevented any general adoption thereof-for instance, no metallic frame has yet been made of the requisite strength and lightness which could satisfactorily be used with strings of gut or of silk. Hence, notwithstanding its infirmity, the wooden frame, of selected ash, still retains its preeminence.

The object of the present invention is to provide a practical metal racket frame which will possess the many desirable features of the best wooden frames and, like wood, is equally adapted for any kind of stringing, of gut or silk as well as of metal.

To this end my new frame comprises, briefly stated, a head, of the usual oval or other suitable shape and made preferably of nickel steel or similar ferrous alloy, which is of rounded or stream-line hollow section with a depression in its inner wall extending as a central longitudinal groove around the inner side of the rim and which carries, mounted within such groove and supported by the opposite walls thereof, a series of suitably shaped and spaced bridge-pieces around which to loop the strings of the racket as usual, and, in the form preferred, a handle, also of nickel steel and hollow section, which is separately formed and is welde ed or brazed to the head.

One practical embodiment of the invention and two slight modifications thereof are shown, by way of illustration and not of limitation, in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side or plan view, partly in section, illustrating the new racket frame in what I now consider to be the best form thereof; Fig. 2 is a broken section, enlarged, on the line 22 of Fig. 1; Fig. 3 is a section of the rim, further enlarged, on the line 33 of Fig. 1, showing a bridge-piece of the form and secured to the rim in the manner preferred, and Fig. 3' is a front or plan view of a detached bridge-piece; Figs. 4 and 4 are views similar respectively to those of Figs. 3 and 3, illustrating a modification thereof; Fig. 5 is a view similar to Fig. 3, illustrating a further modification; and Figs. 6, 7 and 8 are enlarged sections of the handle on the lines 66,'77 and 88, respectively, of Fig. 1.

Referring to the drawings, the rim 10 of the racket head, of hollow stream-line section, is made preferably ofa length of oval seamless tubing which is drawn with a groove 11 in one of its sides and is then shaped up so that this groove will encircle the inner side of the rim. The two ends of therim tubing are united either by welding or by brazing them together, as may be found most desirable, usually at the throat of the racket.

The outwardly curved or bowed bridgepieces 13, about which the strings 12 are strung in the usual manner, are shown in Figs. 3 and 5 as of solid rounded section, with flattened and rounded ends 14, and they are secured in place, at appropriate intervals, by inserting .them in the groove 11 at an oblique angle to its longitudinal axis and then forcing them around to a right angle therewith in manner to slightly spring apart, or ratherto formslight indentations .15, in the opposite sides'of the grove. In

the modification illustrated in Figs. 4 and 4', the sides of the groove 11 are inclined to each other, at 15 so as to form a slightly undercut groove into the open ends of which the bridge-pieces 13 here provided with squared and slightly beveled ends lt are or may he slid and-moved along to position therein before the two ends. of the rim tubing are united. As a further modification, illustrated in Fig. 5, the ends of the hollow bridge-pieces 13 of tubing, are supported in holes 15 drilled in the opposite sides of the somewhat difierently shaped groove 11 near ice the outer edges thereof, the curvature of the bridge-pieces permitting of the insertion of their ends in the holes, as shown, without the drilling of any extra holes. The bridgepieces mounted as described are in all cases supported and held by. the walls'of the rim tubing, but are permanently secured in place, against possible dislodgement, by brazing.

The handle 16, also of hollow section, is here shown as made in two parts 17 and 18, both exactly alike, which are stamped to shape from sheet metal and are united, by

welding or brazing, along their edges 19, and, at their inner curved ends'20, to the sides of the rim around the throat. The two parts of the handle are preferably bound to gether and to the rim, at the tips of their inner ends, by collars or clips 21, 21, in order to insure against any possible starting of cracking in the welded or brazed seams, due to the violent shocks experienced in play. The outer end of the handle is preferably closed by a cap-piece 22, which may be either Welded or brazed thereon.

The brazing referred to may be effected either by the well-known torch or dip-brazing methods; and, as it is done before the final heat treatment, a spelter should be selected which has a melting point of say 1600 F., or is well above the temperatures employed in the heat treatment. In clipbrazing, where the whole head of the racket is dipped in molten brass, a cord of asbestos temporarily strung along the groove under the bridge-pieces will prevent the accumulations of brass therein during the process.

The heat treatment of the completed racket consists, according to the standard practice for nickel steel, in first heating it to about 1 150" F. and quenching in oil from this temperature, and then reheating to about 900 F. and, after holding it thereat for approximately a half hour, allowing it to cool slowly.

A racket with frame made of nickel steel as described, and strung with silk strings has in use proven most satisfactory in every respect. The frame combines great strength with the light weight required. It has been refined in all its parts so as to minimize the air resistance, which is very considerable in a hard stroke with a wooden racket, and its appearance is particularly pleasing by reason of the elimination of the usual holes which make an unsightly line around the outside of the head. The bridge-pieces, providing as they do easy curved surfaces around which the strings are stretched, eliminate the danger of their being cut by the edges of holes as they often are in wooden frames, and at the same time, by reason of their location on the inner side of therim, effect a savingof about fifteen per cent in the amount of the stringing required. Moreover, the strings are open for inspection throughout their length, while completely protected from injury from contact with anything.

It is to be understood that the racket frame may be variously modified in its several cletails, within the scope of the appended claims, without departing from the spirit 2. A racket frame comprising a metallic head made of oval seamless tubing which is drawn with a groove in one side and shaped up andunited at its two ends to form a continuous'rim with the groove enricling the inner side thereof and means spanning the groove in the rim at spaced intervals and providing rounded anchorages for the stringing.

3. A racket frame comprising a head made of a length of oval seamless tubing which is drawn with a groove in one of its sides and is shaped up and united at its two ends to form a continuous rim with the groove encircling its inner side and, as anchorages for the stringing, bridge-pieces of at least partially rounded section which at spaced intervals are mounted within the groove in the rim and are supported and held by the opposite walls thereof.

4. A racket frame having a head with metallic rim which is of stream-line hollow section recessed in its inner wall to form a groove encircling the inner side of the rim and which is provided with bridge-pieces spanning the groove and supported at their ends by but without piercing the sides of the grooves. V

5. A racket frame comprising a head with metallic rim which is of stream-line hollow section recessed in its inner wall to form a groove encircling the inner side of the rim and is provided with fixed means for securing within such grooves the loops of the usual strings and a metallic handle which is of hollow section and at its inner end is eX-' panded laterally to fit the curved throat of the headand is there permanently attached to the rim.

6. A metallic racket frame comprising a head the rim of which is formed from seamlar ferrous alloy comprising a head with continuous rim which is formed from a length of seamless tubing drawn to streamline section with a groove in one side and shaped up with the groove opening inwardly and united at its ends, a' handle which is formed fromtwo like stampings of sheet metal joined along their edges and at their inner shaped ends to the rim around the curved throat of the head, and means spanning the groove in the rim at fixed intervals and providing anchorage with rounded hearing surfaces for the stringing.

EDSON F. GALLAUDET. 

